Microcelebrity Social Media Selfies

Reflecting on Week three of The Selfie Course on selfies and microcelebrity, I thought I would share my take on the types of heterosexual feminine scripts microcelebrity social media personalities in Singapore use to convey intimacy and market products to readers.

01 The Beauty regime selfie

Selfies of close-up shots bare faced or before/after transformations as a teaser to a beauty product or service they are marketing.

02 The Product Placement selfie

Sometimes, selfies are not completely relevant to whatever is being marketed. But a selfie marks the authenticity of a post as aesthetically crafted and endorsed by a social media personality. Selfies also differentiate product endorsement shots from stock photos, and adds a layer of intimacy and sincerity in engaging the clientele.

03 The Beauty Transformation/Aspiration selfie

Social media personalities look back on old selfies, and compare and contrast these publically with readers. This is as opposed to a smaller group of personalities who delete old crumbs and traces of their ‘old face’ to rewrite the history of their web persona. And of course, these close-up beauty selfies also earmark the minute inferiorities personalities perceive in their appearance.

04 The Makeup Selfie

Makeup regimes can be arduous and cumbersome. Most times, they require much effort and a great investment in time, money, and honing one’s craft. Better not let it “go to waste” aka please appreciate my art.

05 The Playful/Self-deprecating selfie

As high profile personalities, microcelebrity social media starlets sometimes find themselves in the centre of sensational hyped-up ‘non-news’. This personality, recently accused of photoshopping her figure, takes such drama in her stride and rehashes the photoshopping saga in a playful light.

06 The First World Problem selfie

Self-explanatory. Also regularly appears as having too many clothing/shoes/designer bags and not knowing what to wear.

07 The Couple selfie

Also self-explanatory. Recently, these predominantly female social media personalities have taken to making (accidental) microcelebrities of their (predominantly male) partners as well. Some of these boyfriends have amassed their own fanbase and social media following, and a handful have begun to receive endorsements, sponsorships, and advertising engagements themselves. (Am currently working on a paper on such Power Couples. Beep me if you’d like to chat!)

08 The Clique selfie

Beyond declaring their allegiance to particular social circles, many higher ranked star social media celebrities feature industry friends/proteges/mentees on their social media feeds to expand the latter’s exposure to their own readers. They may also hold inane conversations publically on social media platforms (as opposed to dyad private platforms like Whatsapp, Twitter DM, or SMS) to boost the latter’s visibility on followers’ timelines.

09 The Off-day selfie

They often appear to be living the high life with sponsorships and endorsements featuring on their social media feeds daily. But the crux of these personalities’ microcelebrity is being able to remain accessible, grounded, and intimately visible to readers. Exhibit A: a star blogger interjects her stream of glamour shots with a selfie of herself past midnight, bare faced with messy, in casual home attire, after a long night of studying.

10 The micromicrocelebrity selfie

Last but not least, a new project I’m working on – second generation social media microcelebrities, aka ‘micromicrocelebrities’! These bubs have got their lives archived on the web from the moment of conception, and the pioneer batch of now-toddlers have even amassed endorsements and advertising deals themselves! (I’m really excited about this in particular. Paper in the works. More to come!)

What other types of microcelebrity selfies have you come across on social media? What selfie have you posted today? Chat with us!